During the high-level conference taking place in Sofia, the Republic of Armenia Minister of Justice Arpine Hovhannisyan, responded to the speech of the Minister of Justice of Azerbaijan. The latter mentioned in his speech that Azerbaijani Judiciary system would work better if 20 per cent of the country’s territory had not been occupied, and they did not have over one million refugees. He also said that Armenia had started aggression against Azerbaijan, insinuating the large-scale military actions against Nagorno Karabakh Republic unleashed by Azerbaijan on the night of 1 to 2 April.
The Information and Public Relations department of the RA Minisrty of Justice informed Iravaban.net that Arpine Hovhannisyan responded to the Azerbaijan representative saying, “I am really sorry that Azerbaijani Minister of Justice did not heed admonition of Mr. Philippe Boilatt, Director of Council of Europe Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law and moderator of this respectful conference, who asked to speak exclusively on the topic of the conference and not to address topics that are not related to the debated issue. But, at the same time, responding to the latter, I would like to note that Azerbaijan has unleashed an unprecedented scale military aggression against Nagorno Karabakh on the night of 1 to 2 April. They killed, they tortured, they beheaded, Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they beheaded in the manner typical to “Islamic State”. At this point I stop to talk about this subject, given the scope of the conference, but I want to finish my speech by quoting the words of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that he said in his speech at PACE addressed to Azerbaijan. “Stop shooting, stop fighting.””
Notably, today, the high level conference on “Strengthening Judicial Independence and Impartiality as a Pre-condition for the Rule of Law in Council of Europe Member States” has started in Sofia, the Capital City of Bulgaria with participation of about two hundred delegates from different countries of the world, the justice ministers, senior members of the judiciary, as well as representatives of the EU institutions and other international organizations.
